Pastry
by idiyanale
Summary: "I swear you could trip over your own shadow." In which Steve Rogers trips. Repeatedly. A Steve/Hermione ONESHOT.


**PASTRY**

 _Prompt: "I swear you could trip over your own shadow." "My shadow's a tricky little bastard. It likes to see me fall to its level."  
_

* * *

"Ugh, Steve! _Again_ , seriously?"

Steve rolled his eyes at the often heard remark around the Avengers' base. Ever since he was injected with the serum that gave him the body and skills to become _the_ Super Soldier, he also gained the most infuriating side-effect. Being clumsy over every. Single. Thing.

"How does this thing keep on happening?" exclaimed Clint. "I swear, Steve; I think you could trip over your own fucking shadow."

"Language, Barton," Steve replied gruffly. He had to admit, he was as tired of his being this clumsy as his teammates. When it first started, he honestly thought it was a fluke. He wasn't all that knowledgeable about anything science-related, but he figured during those first few minutes that he was injected with the SSS (which is what he calls the Super Soldier serum in his head, he thought he was funny for thinking that up; and saying its meaning _is_ an actual mouthful), his entire body was just adjusting to the sudden increase in size and mass and that was the reason for his infernal clumsiness, or, as Barton liked to call it: his ability to trip over his own shadow. Steve was just thankful that this _ability_ of his doesn't often show up during most of his missions, else he'd be stuck as a glorified Captain _again_.

"Wow, sorry _Grandpa_."

" _Ha_. _Ha_. I've heard all those from Tony, I can't believe you're actually going down his level, Clint," Steve said with a mock-shake of his head to show his disapproval. He ignored Tony's shout of protest to his comment and continued on, "Besides, my shadow's a tricky little bastard. It likes to see me fall to its level."

There was a split second of silence, and then -

"Was that a _joke_?"

"Forget the joke, did Cap actually said _bastard_?"

"Oi, Rogers, you're a fucking hypocrite! Language, my ass!"

* * *

Steve was strolling towards the nearest Starbucks cafe near base to get his breakfast croissant. It was a nice welcome from the era he had come from. Back then, there were few cafes in America to get food from, and if there were, he had even fewer money to buy it with.

His thoughts were interrupted when he managed to trip over the _flat_ surface of the sidewalk. It would have been fine, he would have suffered a few minutes of embarrassment and moved on if he hadn't manage to grab the blouse of the woman in front of him. Now, not only is he suffering through embarrassment, he's painfully aware that he might have managed to seriously injure someone.

"Ma'am, I am terribly sorry. Here, let me help you up," said Steve while holding out a hand to the curly-haired woman he brought down with him. The aforementioned woman took his hand gingerly with a glare to his features, and he flushed even more than he already was.

She shook and straightened her clothes out while still giving Steve an unimpressed glare. All the while, Steve couldn't help looking her over. She was much shorter than him, maybe a foot shorter or more, and she had the curliest hair he had ever seen on anyone. Her hair looked alive, a brown curly mess of magnificent hair that he was itching to touch. She also had the loveliest chocolate-brown eyes, and she was standing with a poise of someone who knew and was assured of her own identity.

"I really am sorry, Ma'am."

She sighed, and then visibly relaxed. "No, it's fine. Sorry, it's not your fault. And I _am_ sorry for glaring at you, I was just having a terribly bad day!"

"C-can I buy you a new pastry?" Steve asked. It was only fair, seeing as he was the fault for the woman's pastry falling to the floor. It also had the addition of him spending more time in the woman's captivating presence, which he really wasn't sure what it was about. (Somewhere, in the back of his mind, _Tony Stark_ of all people was there, egging him on)

"I don't normally let strangers buy me pastries, Mister..." she smirked.

Did she really not know who he was? "Oh, Steve. I'm Steve." he said, holding out his hand.

She shook it, and Steve felt electricity zooming where their hands met. "Hermione," she said, all the while smiling with the brightest smile Steve had _ever_ seen, and he swore his heart actually skipped a beat.

* * *

A/N: I was just searching for a prompt because I haven't written _anything_ in ages, and I came across this! I'm currently addicted to anything Steve/Hermione so I thought it was only fitting that my first completed and published story would be for this pairing. I currently do not know anything about publishing stories to this site, and I would appreciate it if anybody would point me in the right direction hehe. Hope you liked this! Please send me some love through the reviews!


End file.
